This is my first series of caches which, like many others has been inspired by the restrictions of exploring closer to home and making use of the trails in Newport. The title of the walk, Caching In Style (CIS) refers to the number of styles on the walk and that the majority of the hides are near styles. The walk begins just off the Usk Road on the way out of Caerleon passing by the overgrown remains of the Penrhos Camp, a civil war fort, and follows a mixture of field and woodland paths before reaching Ponthir. Here it joins a section of the signposted “Lodge Hill Walk” before the route ends and joins the sustrans cycle route number 88. At the end of the walk there is the choice of continuing along the “Lodge Hill Walk” route through Lodge Wood, exploring the Lodge Wood Camp, an iron age hill fort, rumoured to be the setting for the start of the Mabinogion story “The Lady of the Fountain”. Or following the cycle route along the river Usk back into Caerleon. Both offer great views of Newport and a selection of other caches to find.
Depending on your chosen return route the series is around 6.5km (4mi) but to make it a circular walk you will be looking at a good 10km (6.2mi). For a flatter walk I would recommend returning via the cycle route but if you still have some puff left in you then the footpaths up to the Lodge Wood camp are well worth the extra effort and both are a similar distance back to the parking coordinates. Each of the return routes will be marked as waypoints on the final cache page.
Dog rating:
As I do the majority of my caching with my GeoHound Blodwen the Dachshund and I’m always looking for advice on how suitable the walk is for a dog I thought I’d give her advice on the appropriateness of the walk for dogs.
As the title suggests there are a few styles that need crossing which is fine if your dog is small like me as we can be carried over - not sure the bigger dogs would have this luxury! There’s also a few fields with livestock, mainly sheep and horses which are just as afraid of me as I am of them. You may encounter some cows in the fields near Gatlas Cottage but on our visits to set these caches there’s only ever been a couple of them and they stayed out of our way so must be used to walkers. Enjoy!
Cache specific notes:
The trailhead waypoint marks out an access road which avoids the overgrown footpath. Once at GZ follow the path into the field and make your way to #2.